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Get a job with the real IT crowd

Computing jobs needn't mean sitting silently in a dark room. A degree in computer science can lead to some of the most promising and exciting careers out there

By Abigail Beall

The next WhatsApp? Start-ups suit people keen to work in small groups

(Image: plainpicture/Maskot)

“HAVE you tried turning it off and on again?” These famous words, attributed to the stereotypical IT professional, conjure up images of dull work in a dimly lit corner of an office. In reality, people with a background in IT and computer science are in high demand for some of the country’s most rewarding jobs.

After his computer science degree, Taylor started working as a web developer for large companies. But the idea of leading a small group of like-minded people to create a new product appealed. “Working for larger companies usually comes with a lot of red tape and meetings,” he says. “I enjoy having the freedom to decide the technical future of the company.”

Taylor picked up many of the programming languages and skills he now uses after university, but says his degree was essential in launching his career. “It was a great help in getting my first job, and everything else has come from there,” he says.

Working with start-ups isn’t all plain sailing, however, and these small companies don’t have a high success rate. “There is inherent uncertainty when building your own start-up, and you worry about where the funding or revenue is going to come from.” Taylor’s advice is to keep abreast of developments in your field. “If you keep yourself up to date with the latest technologies you can pretty much always find a short-term contract job somewhere if needs be,” he says. “Although it’s best to plan in advance and have a couple of months salary stashed away somewhere, just in case.”

Those who crave a little more job security might consider a career in software engineering. That is what Pieter Senster did. As a software engineer at Google, Senster directs a small team that develops ideas into products. Much of his time is spent programming, but Senster also leads meetings and conducts job interviews.

“I think a misconception about programmers is that they put on headphones and work silently all day,” he says. “I work and communicate a lot with different teams in Google.”

Senster followed his degree with a master’s in computer science. He believes it was this strong academic background that helped him get a foot in the door at Google, with a paid, three-month-long internship at the company’s London office in 2010.

“As an intern at Google you don’t make coffee,” says Senster. “You actually get assigned a real project that you own from start to finish.”

Senster was tasked with finding a way to display certain kinds of video on iPads, iPhones and Android tablets. He developed Google Swiffy, a smartphone and tablet app to do just that. Senster’s managers were so impressed that they offered him a job.

Now, Senster interviews candidates for other software engineering roles at Google. The best way to impress an interviewer is with technical ability, Senster says. Experience with programming languages including Java, Python, C and C++ is useful, although the specific requirements vary by role.

Those whose passions lie outside programming can find interesting IT careers in data analysis, says Rachele Williams. Williams is a graduate trainee analyst at Dunnhumby, a London-based company that helps retailers make sense of the mountains of data they collect.

Every time you swipe a supermarket store card, for example, information about your purchase is used to generate a customer profile. This is how supermarkets are able to send you tailored vouchers, offering money off products that might tempt you.

“It involves a lot of deep diving into data,” says Williams. “I spend a lot of my days in Excel spreadsheets, trying to find patterns within codes.” Williams tries to draw useful information from the pool of data, before presenting her findings to the company. “Starting with a huge matrix of undecipherable numbers and finding the story they tell is fascinating,” she says.

A career in business analysis suits puzzle-solvers who enjoy tackling maths problems, says Williams. “It’s also advantageous to be very curious – to question your own results and to think about the wider picture and why things may have happened as they have.” Short work placements, longer internships and graduate training schemes are all ways to find out if the job is a good fit.

Work experience and technical skills are the best preparation for a career in computing, whether you are drawn to finding patterns in big data, creating products for a tech giant or launching the next WhatsApp.

Are you smart enough to work at Google?

Why is a tennis ball fuzzy? How many square feet of pizza are eaten in the US in a year?

Befuddled? You are not alone – head-scratching questions like these are designed to throw people, and force them to think up novel ways to solve difficult problems. That is why giant tech companies like Google, Amazon and Apple use them in job interviews.

If you ever find yourself trying to work out how many windows there are in New York, for example, Poundstone recommends working out why the first answer that you think of might be wrong, and brainstorming out loud from there. “Take the most promising approach and develop it, listening closely for any guidance you may get from the interviewer,” he says.

It is also worth doing your homework. “It’s important to know how the company makes money, what new directions it is moving in, and to have a sense of the interviewer’s personal interests,” says Poundstone. Don’t feel obliged to bring these up in the interview, but they might help you to think up suitable answers, he says.

Even if you can’t get the right solution, at least come to a conclusion, says Poundstone. “Try to supply some sort of closure – many interviewers look for that.”